


Special Assignment

by HecatesKiss



Series: Earthbound Pleasures [11]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-05
Updated: 2015-12-05
Packaged: 2018-05-05 03:33:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5359565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HecatesKiss/pseuds/HecatesKiss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim and Spock arrive on <i>Enterprise</i> where Jim is diverted to Engineering. Everything is mostly fine, until Jim happens to hear the words 'lightning storm in space'. That leads him to volunteer for a special assignment offered by Christopher Pike.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Special Assignment

Jim blinked as they rematerialized and automatically followed when Spock’s fingers wrapped around his arm. He managed a partial salute to the lieutenant in charge of the transporter controls as he half tripped down the stairs.

“We will see the Captain and then get you formally assigned, Cadet.”

“Yes, Commander.” Jim said as his telsu let go of his arm and strode out of the transporter room. Jim kept pace, privately glad he was no longer being yanked around. Oh, he got it. If Spock was in a hurry, you either kept up or got left behind. Jim got a bit of ‘help’ because he was Spock’s mate. Anyone else would have been left running to keep up.

Jim pushed the way the bond wriggled in his head aside as they stepped onto the bridge. Jim snapped Pike a salute and was gratified to be told to be at ease. He mirrored his husband’s position, hands behind his back, shoulders a fraction off of attention.

“Not gonna ask. Kirk, I don’t need a fill at tactical. I do, however; need a fill in Engineering. Swing by Requisitions to get a harness and coveralls. The Quartermistress will have your room assignment as well. Dismissed.”

“Aye sir.”Jim nodded and saluted before he turned away. His fingers brushed Spock’s. The other man met his gaze and shook his head slightly as he leaned towards Jim.

“Whatever quarters assignment you are given, ignore. You are _my telsu_ we share. XOs quarters are on D5. Three Six Baker One Romulan.”

“Yes, Commander.” Jim murmured before he pulled away.

Jim smiled at the quartermistress and took the two pairs of coveralls. She grimaced along with him as she saw the new safety harness. It was nearly neon green.

“I know this is the newest ship in the fleet, but by any chance do you have the older mono-black that nobody really liked stuffed in the back?”

Kylie grinned and nodded. Jim ignored the prosthetic hand as she turned away and vanished into stores. She came back with exactly what he had requested, the transparent film warped and yellowed. Jim signed for it, but kept the neon green name patches that were emblazoned with “Kirk” in black block letters. He was also issued a micro spanner and a set of styli.

He glanced at his room assignment cabin 324 on deck 6 and knew to ignore it. He nodded and stepped from the room with a quick salute as a rush of cadets piled in. Jim ducked into the nearest turbolift and kind of swatted at the bond as it twisted like something wanting to be petted.

Jim stepped out on the Officer’s deck and walked to Spock’s door. He punched in the access code and slipped into the room. He hung the two spare uniforms and the red shirts to the left of Spock’s pants and the science blue shirts. Jim left the other black coverall folded on the little shelf and tucked the two extra pair of boots below it.

Ripping open the clear plastic on the cover all, Jim ignored the red over shirt and pried off his boots. He stepped into the cover all, glanced at the white star fleet logo and then pulled his PADD and communicator from his inside pockets, along with the allergen hypo. He dropped those onto Spock’s desk before he zipped the cover all to his throat. He grabbed the thicker socks, shoved his feet into them and then pulled on a pair of the new boots. He tested the flex in the boots and shrugged. They would work well enough if he had time to break them in.

Jim then tore open the harness and jumped into it, adjusting straps and testing buckles and clips as he went. He tightened down the thigh straps and settled the waist buckles so that they would be comfortable. He left the chest strap unbuckled and stuck the neon green name tags at the waist, vertically on the right shoulder strap, and on the band that rested between his shoulder blades. He then unsealed the pockets and dropped his communicator in the one just below his left hip, shoved his allergen hypospray in the pocket behind his name strip and then paused long enough to dump his PADD logs onto his home system before he punched in the codes he’d been given to activate the Engineering information for the _Enterprise_.

Jim sent a quick query to his Mom for a copy of the rapid fill program he’d written for her years ago for Starfleet Engineering forms. While he waited for it, he slipped the PADD into the front pocket on his right thigh of the cover alls. A quick press sealed the pocket shut. He tapped his left chest pocket and shoved the styli there, while he strapped the microspanner to his harness on the left side.

Jim made sure that the room looked fine and all the plastic was shoved in a recycler before he slipped out of the room and found his way down to Engineering. He reported to Lieutenant Olson, nodded and fell into step with him while he was yelling at another cadet about something to do with manifolds.

“She’s brand new. We did a shakedown, so everything _works_ but the port nacelle is a bit, finicky. It needs .00003 more microns of anti-matter to balance out with the starboard.”

“I’ll remember that.” Jim muttered, pulling a stylus out from the left chest pocket, and his PADD from the pocket on his thigh. He brought up a diagram of Enterprise, tapping on the port nacelle and scribbling out the notation. He stuffed the PADD back in it’s spot and shoved away the stylus.

“You any relation to Winona?”

“Yep. She’s my Mom. She taught me with old manuals and her comments.” Jim grinned at that. Olson lifted an eyebrow. “So, when you were 16, did she really drag you into space?”

“You’re asking about my time on the Ulysses. Yeah, I did help out when we had that really screwy temporal glitch that kept trying to fry our engines. Took Mom, Rinley, Ashoni, and myself thirty seven hours to keep us from blowing the hell up. That was _intense_. I was also the only one small enough at the time to _fit_ where we needed the fix.” Jim just shrugged and grinned.

“You _like_ the old black harness?”

“You guys had some in the back.” Jim shrugged and let his boots find the runners so that he could slide down the stairs as an alarm claxon wailed. He hit the catwalk at a run, Olson barely in front of him.

Olson and Jim locked their chest straps and connected their double safety lines. Jim noticed a flare of sparks below their feet and he hopped over the railing. He felt the secondary safety line catch and he threw out both of his arms to help absorb the shock. One foot twined around the safety line to steady himself as he twisted and dropped between two components. He pulled out the micro spanner and waved aside the smoke. Plugging in the spanner, he hung there for a few seconds while it chirped and talked to the part. The spanner beeped. Jim pulled it loose.

“Olson, Relay two delta fiver six one alpha blown.” Jim called up, reading the data output.

“It’s a secondary relay for the phaser array on the port side. It’s secondary, so not of vital importance for a rescue mission. Check storage sector gama three vega for the replacement.” Olson called down. Jim called back that he understood, and while hanging suspended, pulled his PADD and the stylus from their pockets and made a note of where to get the part from. He stowed them again and then unwrapped his foot from around the safety line. He pushed off the damaged relay and grabbed both of the safeties to haul himself back to the catwalk.

“Hey Jim!” Gaila chirped with a bright grin, clad in the black cover all and neon green harness with her fiery hair braided back. She reached down and helped pull him up onto the catwalk. Jim smirked as he climbed through the railing.

“Hey Gaila.” He said as he flipped the safeties loose and clipped them back into the harness to keep them out of the way.

“So… what’s the chain?” Gaila asked as she fell into step with Jim who had pulled out his PADD to poke at it for directions to the storage area.

“Huh?”

“Silver chain peeking out under the blacks.” Gaila motioned towards Jim’s neck. He hooked a finger under the warm metal and tugged as he switched his way down steps. He saw her eyes widen.

“Oh. Congrats. That’s why you smell like the Commander.” Gaila smiled and Jim just shook his head as he shoved the medallion back under his blacks. He plunged into the stores and flicked through various components until he found the appropriate panel. He glanced at the tray of his PADD and loaded his little quick log program. A few flicks of his fingers, via the program logged the correct forms for the part. He then shot the form to Olson and shoved the PADD back into the thigh pocket.

Jim jogged back up to where he’d dropped over the railing from last time and clipped back onto the lower railing before he stepped through again with the part tucked into his chest pocket. He paused and pulled on the microthin gloves before he dropped again and started pulling the part loose with the micro spanner.

Jim brought the segment back online, stared at the readout on the micro spanner and then pulled it loose and shoved it back into the slot he’d designated for it. He was about to hotfinger the damaged panel into the same pocket the good panel had come out of when a small solid plasteel basket was lowered down next to him. He dropped the part into it and waited for it to be pulled clear before he flipped around and pulled himself back up.

“So.. where does this go?” Gaila asked. Jim bit his lip, because for once, he wasn’t sure. He knew his Mom would sideline a part to see if they could cannibalize the good bits later, but he wasn’t sure what sort of ship Olson ran.

“Let me ask.” Jim said as he pulled out his PADD. He typed in his question and slung it to Olson. The man typed something back and Jim nodded.

“Empty Storage on Delta Three Omega. Makes sense.”

“Why does that make sense? Jim?”

“My Mom always used Delta Three Omega as cannibal storage. It’s got a work area as well as storage.” Jim responded even as he climbed. He ducked under a bit of piping without really looking and then keyed open the storage compartment, moving into the space sideways. He found where the part should be, swiped a copy of the damage report to the little reader chip, and then stuck the reader to the part.

“So, how’d you get here before us? We were the first shuttle section up.”

“Spock. We beamed directly from the Embassy onto _Enterprise_.”

“Perks, eh?”

“You could say that.” Jim grinned as they both finally made it down to the floor of Engineering. He slipped into the circle of engineers and nodded once to Olson who nodded back.

“Other than a blown component, we are ready to go. Kirk, section Gama Vega. You seem comfortable hanging if you need to. Cadet Gaila? Section Gama Walker. You two were the last I assigned because you were repairing the blown relay.”

“Pike to Olson.” The comm behind Olson chirped. The Chief Engineer leaned over and punched the button.

“Engineering here, sir. Green across the board.”

“Stand by to go to warp.”

“Standing by.” Olson responded before he flipped a switch. Jim watched as pale blue lights began flashing along all walkways. He nodded, saluted and turned back to the stairs. Jim moved easily and absently clipped a line into the wall when he reached his sector. He saw Gaila glance at him and then do the same. _Enterprise_ jolted in the next instant. He watched several cadets go sliding. One missed a handhold and fell from his catwalk and landed on another. Jim winced.

“Always clip in on launch or going to warp. It keeps your smile pretty and bruises only hurt for a little bit.” Jim lectured. Gaila rolled her eyes and nodded. “Hey, it’s what my Mom told me. When I was on the _Farragut_ I reached for handholds automatically while on the bridge. The lieutant thought I was jumpy until we jolted one too many times because the engines did something freaky. I swear Farragut is gremlin central. I didn’t bleed as much as the others, cause I always braced.”

“Well, when your Mom runs Engineering, you probably learn quick.” Gaila responded with a grin. Jim nodded.

“So, where did your roomie get assigned?”

“Enterprise. She threw a bit of a fit, but got put here. They assigned her to the Farragut first.” Gaila shrugged and both rolled their eyes fondly. “She found something interesting last night. Apparently there was a transmission from Klingon space. Some stupid number of Klingon Birds of Prey were destroyed by a single giant Romulan ship.” Jim blinked.

They both turned to a view screen where a kid with a Slavic accent started reporting what the mission was. Jim was nodding along until he heard the words ‘lightning storm in space’.

“Did that kid just say lightning storm?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Oh fuck. I need to get to the bridge. Now.” Panic started to ice through his veins. Gaila just blinked. Jim unclipped and started for the nearest turbolift. “Gaila? Call Uhura. Tell her to meet me on the bridge, ASAP!”

Gaila reached for her communicator. Jim took off at a run. There was no _time_ for anything slower. Not if he was going to stop the trap that they were warping into. As he ran, he was steadily swearing, “Shit, shit, shit.”

* * *  
Jim frantically punched in the retrieval codes for the Kelvin Disaster, knowing he’d have most likely _one_ chance to get his explanation out. He checked his information sections, even though he personally had the chunks memorized. He then drummed the fingers of his free hand against his thigh as he waited for the lift doors to open. He was doing his damndest to ignore the stitch in his side. Bending forward, he gulped in a few deeper breaths. He had run three catwalks and slid down five flights of stairs. He was still wondering if the Jeffries would have been faster.

The cheery little ping that the lift made as it stopped on another floor barely registered to Jim’s mind. He dragged in a breath and looked up. Uhura stepped into the compartment and just blinked.

“All right, Farmboy. Why is Gaila nearly freaking out?”

“How many birds of prey?”

“What?”

“That report you intercepted. How many birds of prey were destroyed?”

“Forty seven. Look Kirk, if you were dragging me up here just for some stupid--”

“Forty seven birds destroyed by _one_ ship. And there’s this whole lightning storm in space? This is soo fucking not good. I was born in space, Uhura. Kelvin Baby, remember? The day I was born, is the day my Dad _died_.”

“Saving lives, right. What’s wrong?”

“The Lightning storm. It showed up _right_ before the massive ship that my Dad flew the Kelvin into.”

“So what… you think that a lightning storm… oh.” Her eyes widened. Jim nodded and swallowed. The turbolift pinged and the doors slid open. Jim managed to walk, but he was walking at double time.

The doors to the bridge shushed open and Jim stepped through. “Captain, Commander Spock, could II have a moment of your attention?”

Jim watched his husband turn, glance at the Cadet behind Jim and then focus on him. Jim looked at Pike and waited.

“Go ahead.”

“We have to drop out of warp, sir. We are running _right_ into a trap. On the day the USS Kelvin was destroyed, a lightning storm in space was seen. The Kelvin’s sensors recorded it. A giant unforeseen ship, speculated to be of Romulan design appeared from that storm. Yesterday Cadet Uhura translated and reported that forty seven Klingon battle cruisers were destroyed by a single massive ship.” Spock opened his mouth to say something. Jim just glared and spoke before his telsu could interrupt. His hands were trembling. He only had one shot at this. He did _not_ need to be told he was freaking out. He already was aware of that.

“ The distress call we are answering is preceded by a lightning storm in space. Sir, respectfully, we are warping right into the potential for what destroyed the Kelvin.” Jim blurted it all out in a rush, PADD forgotten in his hand, used only for gesturing as he flailed a bit, panic pushing his heart rate higher as they got closer.

“Cadet? You were the one that submitted the report?” Spock asked, attention swinging to the young woman who stood in cadet red. She nodded once.

“The Klingons reported _one_ ship. They called it Romulan. It’s signature was transmitted as well.” Uhura pulled her PADD from the pocket of her skirt. “I filed my report with Command. Whether or not they did anything with the report is unknown.”

“Jim? Breathe.” Spock growled, dark eyes fixed on the rapid thrum of his mate’s pulse.

Jim gasped in a breath and nodded. “I don’t have the report on my PADD, but…”

“I do still.” Uhura said, thrusting her’s forward, into Spock’s reaching hands. Jim swallowed, blinked, and fumbled through his own data. He pulled up the scans that the Kelvin had managed and flicked them to Uhura’s PADD. He then clenched damp fists in their black micro gloves and simply tried to breathe.

Jim waited, heart beat thrumming in his ears, gaze flicking to the central screen as he watched stars warp by. Fingers brushing his wrist forced him to take another breath. He shivered when the touch was lifted away. He jolted when Spock spoke next to him.

“Signature match is at least eighty seven percent. The Cadet’s concerns are to be considered probable.”

“Lieutenant Hawkins, scan Vulcan space for Romulan transmissions.” Pke ordered as he sank back into his chair. Jim automatically reached for a brace bar and grabbed Uhura’s hand so that she was holding on to something too. She shot him a glare and Spock growled.

“T’hy’la.” Jim muttered, earning a strange look from Uhura. He swatted at the bond again as it wiggled. It had subsided while he was in Engineering and focusing. Now, with sweat soaking his gloves, and the stitch in his side registering as a sharp, hot pain, it proved distracting. He blinked when Spock stifled a small gasp.

“Sir? I can’t distinguish between Romulan and Vulcan.”

“Uhura can. She beats my scores hands down when it comes to all three dialects.” Jim said, easily giving credit where it was due. Spock’s warm fingers pressed into the underside of his right wrist. Jim felt the bond twitch again. He mentally pushed it away. Spock flinched.

“Her record is exceptional in xenolinguistics.” Spock said.

“Take over his spot, Cadet.” Pike ordered. The leiutenant rose without comment and Uhura slid into his seat. A few seconds later, with her fingers flying across the boards, she turned around.

“I’m not hearing anything, Captain. No transmissions of any kind. Not us, not Vulcan, nothing but white noise.”

“Because we are warping into an attack.” Jim said, voice flat.

“Hang on. We are being hailed by the _Ibelin_.”

“Put it through.”

“Captain Pike, Chief Engineer Kirk here. We are warping into a fucking trap. I suggest you drop out of warp unless you want to meet the thing that killed my George. You wrote the fucking dissertation.”

“Your son already explained this. I will suggest your captain go to battle stations. At warp two. Pike out.”

Pike turned towards Kirk in his chair. “Find a spot to hang on to. We are going to full alert. Shields up. Drop us to warp two. Olson?”

“Engineering here, sir.” Olson responded.

“Prepare for battle stations, we may be needing a lot of the engines suddenly. Full alert.”

“Aye sir.”

Jim stepped back onto the upper deck and grabbed the railing as the bridge was bathed in red light. He took a deep breath and met his husband’s eyes. The bond wiggled and this time, instead of slapping or shoving it aside, he reached out and cradled it with metal hands. Spock’s eyes slid closed and the brilliant fire that was the bond intensified for a few seconds before it settled.

Spock opened his eyes and kept staring at his bondmate as the slavic accented, curly haired kid chirped, “Arrival at Wulcan in 5 seconds. Four. Thwee. Two…”

They came out of warp into a field of debris. Jim gripped tighter at the railing as various pieces of recognizable federation build debris battered the Enterprise. Jim wasn’t the only person to swear, and he grabbed for Hawkins, when the lurch of impacting the various bits of debris rocked Enterprise.

“Emergency evasives!” Pike barked out.

“ Running, sir.” The helmsman called back. Jim hauled Hawkins to his feet and asked with a quick touch of gloved fingers if he was all right. The man nodded and grabbed onto the railing.

”Damage report.” Spock asked, voice unruffled and smooth.

“Deflector shields are holding.” Chekhov called back, eyes darting over his instruments.

“All stations?” Jim watched as Pike waited for each bridge section to report before he reached for the toggle on his chair. He dipped his head, “Engineer Olson, report.”

Jim registered most of the engineering swearing in the background and huffed when he heard a rather colourful phrasing slip through and the sound of something frying itself. Jim shook his head as the toggle was released, cutting off the stream of profanity.

“Full reverse. Come about starboard, 90°. Drop us down underneath them, Sulu.” Jim twitched when a station to the left of sciences exploded in a sudden hiss of sparks. He was over on it immediately, absently clipping into a spot on the deck plating as he plugged his micro spanner into a convenient port. He braced his hand on a clear patch of the console before he ducked below to take a good look at the wiring. He hissed as _Enterprise_ banked and the panel he was pulling open snapped down and the hinges squealed. He slapped it shut and cursed as he caught the tip of a finger in between the flash and the panel.

Jim waited for the _Enterprise_ to level out and then popped open the panel again. He fumbled a bit as he felt around for the micro spanner. Popping it loose, he dragged it back under with him and started ripping out wires. He shoved the spanner back into it’s spot and twisted a few wires together and pulled out one of the styli he had shoved into his pocket. He used the styli to help keep two wires from touching and then finished the last twist before he slapped the panel into place. He unclipped and allowed himself to slide even as the bridge shook as Enterprise took damage. His husband’s hand around his ankle arrested his movement and kept him from sliding head first into the Captain’s chair.

 

“Sulu, status report!” Pike barked.

“Shields at thirty two percent, sir!” the navigator responded.

“Their weapons are powerful, sir. We can't take another hit like that.” Jim blurted as he dragged himself to his feet, briefly using Spock’s arm to stand.

“Get me Starfleet command.”

“Captain.” was Uhura’s only response.

The woman that had been at the station next to Uhura was back into place.“According to my readings, the Romulan ship has lowered some kind of high energy pulse device into the Vulcan atmosphere.”

Jim felt Spock’s apprehension as the woman continued. “It's signal appears to be blocking our  
communications and transporter abilities.”

“All power to forward shields. Prepare to fire all weapons.” Pike snapped.

“Weapons ready.” Chekov responded, voice flat.

“Captain, we're being hailed.” Uhura called suddenly. Pike twisted around.

“The _Ibelin_?

 

“Hello.” A tatooed face with dark, fathomless eyes appeared. Jim blinked and shuddered. Pike pushed out of his chair and took a step forward.

“I'm captain Christopher Pike. To whom am I speaking?”

“Hi Christopher, I'm Nero.” The voice sounded almost _friendly_. Jim wondered very briefly what Bones would think of this guy before he saw the way Pike’s shoulders were rigid.

“You've declared war against the Federation. Withdraw… I'll agree to arrange a conference with Romulan leadership at a neutral location.” The words were practically line and verse out of the diplomatic playbook. If Jim didn’t see Pike’s hands clenched behind his back in fists, he would have thought the man perfectly relaxed.

Jim saw strain appear around the other man’s eyes, not hidden by the tattoos right before he snarled. “I do not speak for the Empire. We stand apart.”

Jim wondered if they were suddenly dealing with a group of Romulan Terrorists. And if so… well, the playbook had just changed. The Federation did not negotiate. They simply did. Not. That meant neither did her Captains or her starships. Jim was letting his brain run through the various potential outcomes and nothing he was seeing was very happy or resulted in very many people remaining alive. He wasn’t really listening to the crackpot until he heard his husband’s name. He blinked and checked back into the conversation.

 

“Pardon me, I do not believe that you and I are acquainted.” Spock stepped forward so that he could be clearly seen. Jim felt a brief sense of outrage that Spock was making himself visible, but forced himself to shove it back.

“No, we're not. Not yet.” The smile the Romulan gave was psychotic. Jim knew that look well enough. The guy wasn’t all there. Really wasn’t all there. He remembered that sort of expression from a five year old boy on Tarsus who would have sooner stabbed you than let you take the body of his dead sister from him. When the voice gentled, Jim bit the inside of his lip to keep from shuddering.

“Spock, there's something I would like you to see.” That smile bloomed again, razored in it’s delight. The eyes though? Were empty holes and that concerned him far more than anything else. He’d seen that look in the mirror before. It was the look of a man with nothing to lose. Jim watched the Romulan’s attention shift back to Pike.

“Captain Pike, your transporter has been disabled. As you can see, by the rest of the armada, you have no choice.” A hand was gestured around, and Jim remembered for a moment the flash of a broken hull from either the Hood or the Farragut, he’d only seen enough to catch the C-1 and either a six or a seven. He bit his lip again. “You will man a shuttle. Come aboard the Narada for negotiations.That is all.”

The screen went dark. Jim and Pike both shot a glance at Uhura. She shook her head. Nero was no longer on the line. Pike turned around and squared his shoulders, meeting the gaze of every person on the bridge. He seemed to linger on Jim for a moment longer than the others. Jim knew what that look meant. No. Shit no.

 

“They’ll kill you, you know that.” Jim snarled.

“Your survival is unlikely.” Spock responded. Jim actually finger kissed Spock for that back up. Pike merely shook his head.

“If it saves my ship and my crew? I’ll do it.”

“What happened to ‘we do not, under any circumstances, negotiate with terrorist organizations for the good of the Federation’ huh?” Jim asked.

 

“Cadet, it also is not Starfleet policy to crash Fleet property into an enemy vessel. But if it gives you guys time? I’ll fucking do it.”

Jim closed his eyes and drew in a slow breath. “What about the drill?”

Pike nodded. “Anyone with advanced hand to hand combat training that wishes to accept a mission, step forward.”

Jim stepped past his husband and squared his shoulders. The helmsman, Sulu, stood up. Pike nodded and motioned for Spock to follow as he turned towards the turbolift that opened directly on the bridge. He called over his shoulder, “Chekov? You have the conn.”

The turbolift doors closing swallowed any response the young man would have made. Pike pressed the comm in the lift and then told Engineer Olson to meet him in the main hanger bay with explosive charges. He looked at Spock and then at Sulu. Jim pried off his gloves and shoved them into a pocket on the cover all. He then brushed fingers with Spock as they stood crowded in the lift.

“Without the transporters, we can’t do our job. We can’t contact StarFleet. Hell, we don’t even know how the Iberlin is, or where she is.” Pike said, being more frank due to such a small group.

“Iberlin is small, and my mother and Captain Reynolds are resourceful. They’re probably hiding in the debris field, using very little power so that they appear as a dead ship. We’re her best hope.” Jim said, able to easily calculate what his mother would do in such a situation. He also unclipped the harness and wiggled out of it. He snagged the micro spanner and stuffed it into a pocket. It had proved useful so far. He picked up the black tangle of straps and stared at it for a moment.

 

“You’re likely right. If I know a Kirk, she’ll beat the odds. We’ll wait til Olson’s here, but… I’m going to orbital launch you, Sulu and Olson to get at that drill. Olson is the one with explosive ordnance training. He’ll be handling the explosives.”

“We’re just there to make sure he has the time to do it.” Jim said with a nod as the doors opened.

“Right. Spock? I’m leaving you command of _Enterprise_. Once the drill is disabled, beam them back aboard. Report to StarFleet what is going on out here. They _need_ to know what the fuck is going on. If everything fails? Fall back and regroup with the rest of the fleet.”

Spock nodded once and pressed his fingers firmly against Jim’s before Jim stepped away. Spock slipped the harness from his mate’s grip and arched an eyebrow. Jim blinked and just shook his head.

“Jim? I’m promoting you to First Officer.”

“What?”

“Excuse me Captain, human notions of humor escape me.” Jim rather agreed with his husband in that moment. What was happening? He could have sworn he had just heard...

“It's not a prank, Spock.” Jim felt the bond roll over in his mind and shudder. Jim blanched at that particular feeling. It actually _hurt_. Jim squashed down the bond with everything he knew how, because it was _really_ a bad idea to have it flailing right about now. Sulu just looked stunned.

“And I am not the captain, you are.” Pike said before he headed towards a single shuttle, which was already waiting. Jim suspected it was Uhura’s doing. “Let's go.”

“Sir, after we knock out that drill, what happens to you?” Jim asked, frown marring his features. Olson dropped in next to them with a perfunctory salute. Jim took part of the cylinders without being asked. Pike glared for a moment.

I guess you have to come and get me.” Pike said with a hint of a smile. Jim nodded. Pike spun on his heel and called back to the man that stood in front of the turbolift. “Careful with the ship, Spock, She's brand new.”

* * *  
Jim automatically checked Sulu’s straps, buckles and the like. He tapped once on the pilot’s shoulder and smiled at the fact that the suit was in command gold. He’d grabbed a solid black suit and wiggled into it without prompting. He felt Olson slap his shoulder and he nodded. He checked Olson’s front, letting his eyes skim down the red suit as he flicked over each bit and piece. His brain was still reeling over the fact that Sulu’s advanced hand to hand combat was _fencing_. He blinked.

“You’re good.” Jim then stepped back and dropped himself into the bucket seat, settling his helmet into place and checking through the HUD. It had been two years since he’d used one. He flexed his fingers and watched the sensors change what he was looking at. He checked his readouts and then tapped to swap so that his altimeter would be to the right side and he could read it easily.

“So… who expected to be in space today?” Jim asked as he reached up and thumbed the control for the internal comm.

“Not me, that’s for sure, Jim. Do me a favor? Land this, unlike the car?” Pike said. Jim only gave a thumbs up. Pike shook his head and then touched the shuttle controls when he was given the go order.

Minutes later Jim was standing up, fingers tracing the micro spanner in the suit pocket. He could feel the weight of the thing. He hooked his fingers onto the bar and leaned forward.

His internal comm crackled to life again.”Gentlemen? You have one chance of landing this. You will be going in fast. You will only have one shot, so wait until the very end to pull your chutes. If you don’t get this done, you won’t be going back to Enterprise. Read me?”

Jim just grinned, thumbs upped and clicked his comm once to acknowledge. He then watched the drop door open.

“Good luck.”

Jim was falling and falling and falling. The howl of atmo was muffled by the suit and the sheer _shock_ of the beauty of the vulcan landscape was stark and wonderful. Jim forced his attention on the altimeter as he flicked through specific numbers very, very rapidly. He saw the critical number flash into blue and slapped his left thigh. He felt the Tri-Ox hiss into his visor and he gulped down each breath, knowing he needed to get as much of the compound into his circulation as possible. It was going to be stupidly thin on top of that drill platform.

He and Sulu landed it, Sulu nearly turning into roasted human due to a jet of flame. The collapsable katana was cool, Jim noted briefly before he caught sight of the first Romulan. The only thought that went through his head was that Spock was going to fucking kill him if he survived this.

Jim did his best to lessen whatever impacts he had to take, but he was still spitting blood and swearing. He caught sight of a flash of red out of the corner of his eye and cursed as he realized it was Olson missing the platform. He ducked a swing and blocked a kick.

He buried a fist in the Romulan’s back, right next to where he thought a kidney should be and even in the howling wind he heard the gurgle of pain. Jim grinned fiercely. His knowledge of his husband’s anatomy would come in _very_ handy it seemed. He struck again and twisted as the Romulan came around, fist leading. Jim spat brilliant red blood and grinned, knowing that his mouth was nothing but blood and teeth.

He rolled when he was knocked down, dodging a sword and blinking. He had a fraction of a second to wonder if Sulu had the right idea before he felt the difference in the grating beneath his feet. He _moved_ right as the Romulan lunged towards him. The flame gouted up.

Another Romulan crawled through the hatch. Jim cursed creatively in High Vulcan and watched those dark eyes narrow in rage as pointed teeth appeared. Whatever he had just snarled was obviously close enough in Romulan. The man charged. Jim sidestepped and went low. The man slid on the deck and went to one knee.

Jim watched a knife be produced from a boot. He blinked and shrugged. This was no different from any other bar fight he’d dealt with. He ducked, dodged, lashed out with a booted foot and followed it up with a fist in the throat. The Romulan laughed. Jim only smiled and kicked the side of the man’s knee.

Basic anatomy had the man falling to his knees, stabbing towards Jim’s groin. He twisted and let the knife go over his hip. He balled up a fist and slammed it into the man’s nose. He growled. Jim snarled and glanced up as he caught a flash of gold. The sword ran through the Romulans unexpecting back.

Jim stepped back and they let the body slide off the drill platform. Sulu grimaced. “Olson’s dead. He missed the platform.”

“Fuck. Okay. Grab that gun and start shooting.”Jim said as he picked up the weapon, checked basics and then started shooting at the tether, praying the damn thing wasn’t reflective.

They got lucky when the drill stopped its digging and then shuddered. It lurched suddenly to one side and Jim swore and his feet moved and he slammed into the deck before they were once again falling through space, towards Vulcan.


End file.
